hi peter
i'm not sure i can be coherent at the moment. i've been struggling all afternoon to try to summarize concisely (and failing)a complaint i would like the parliamentary ombudsman to consider, which is full of off-putting murky jurisdictional complexities, and my brain is at that point where it is ready to start dribbling down my nose.
in my case, i was unable to persuade the DWP to revise a decision which was clearly erroneous in law, even by quoting the relevant and highly significant case law, and then by threatening judicial review (which for various reasons we could not pursue in the end) and i failed to get an expedited appeal. after his inevitably successful appeal the DWP delayed paying my cclient for two and a half months, and the complaint we submitted to the CEO (over the unnecessary delay and expense of a tribunal when the decision should have been revised) ended up for investigation with one of the persons who had been involved in the actions we complained about.
worse than that, the response evidences quite appalling ignorance of the law, and suggests the routine giving of unlawful decisions on habitual residence, and i'm asking myself how it is possible to obtain remedies using legal arguments, with people so lacking in awareness of the law! what is going on?
Is the DWP aware that it administers a statutory scheme at all?
i feel as if i'm going round in circles. i think there are serious problems involving the dual administrative/formal decision making functions of the sec of state, but who am i to say?
in your case, your client is entitled to a statutory award of IS from a date awarded by the tribunal, the DWP does not understand the law, makes you jump through hoops and stresses your client quite unnecessarily in order to obtain her legal entitlement, and makes an extra- statutory payment to get round a problem its created for itself. the end result sounds like false accounting to me. maybe suits the DWP not to have its accounts signed off for years on end?
who can you complain to? ombudsman? president of the appeal service? district or regional chairman? chief commissioner? DWP CEO? (who?) Permanent Secretary? a Minister? Secretary of State? Comptroller General? all of them?
right now i don't know what to say, except that i would be grateful if anyone has any bright ideas...
jj
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